Rules for Immortals
by Sarah Everdeen-Potter-Jackson
Summary: You wouldn't really realize, the moment your life changes forever. It happened so fast for me, like blinking. For a while I was a human, grieving over a loss she would never come back from, and then I was dead, simple and it was over. I didn't see the change at first; but now I wouldn't have recognized that little girl if she were in front of me, even 1000 years ago.
1. Time Changes People

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own any of the characters, settings or general plot ideas of Vampire Diaries or The Originals. I do however own my OC, Emmeline Mikaelson.**

* * *

Time changes people, no matter how solid your morals are eventually you will become the monster everyone else sees.

_I have been alive for a thousand years. I have seen war and bloodshed, peace and happiness, and more knowledge than anyone could ever dream. I could recite what William Shakespeare said on his deathbed, tell you how Alexander Hamilton took his tea, even the number of people who died in London, England on August 4th ,1367 (47 by the way). I have seen unbelievable evil in this world but somehow have not come to the conclusion that it is unfair. I never noticed the invisible line between misguided and evil, and certainly didn't realize when I crossed it. How did I justify killing innocents for such selfish preservation? Why did the world let me live so long with such greed? Well, I guess the brick of death is where everyone feels the most guilt._

_Sorry, I'm being cynical. I should probably explain, from the beginning yes? I was born what now would be February 18th, 1002 but time was different then so who really knows? Anyway, I was the youngest of a family of eight children Elijah, Finn, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah, Henrik, and me, Emmeline._ _I'm only the youngest by minuets though, Rik and I are twins; you see even a thousand years ago people bickered over that petty topic._

_So attention was inevitable, after all in a town full of werewolves, our mother was one of the few witches practicing magic but it was never a problem by any means, an annoyance perhaps, it gave us influence. However we were not yet feared, but we would be. Everything wrong can be traced back to one thing and one thing alone…Henrik's death._

* * *

1413, Somewhere in Europe

"_Kol!"_

My brothers had always embraced vampirism… well Klaus and Kol did, it seemed as if they were always meant to be like this and they loved it. They were good people, they still are most of the time, they do bad things simply for their survival as we all have but I can't say I never realized that they truly enjoyed it. The sadistic comments, the lack of any form of regret, even though it hadn't been clear, at first it became more and more obvious as the years passed.

"Slow down, brother" I laugh feeling guilt for taking part in their pleasure. "Leave some for the rest of us. We've been here barely a week and you've nearly gone thru half the town". My laughter hid my disgust; honestly I'd be surprised if someone noticed anything was wrong with someone if they were laughing in glee.

"Emma, you could get a meal by snapping your fingers. They practically line up outside our door," Kol rolled his eyes. "Yet you insist on taking my hard-earned food" the woman he had, was then in my arms, her blood dripping from her neck tempting me to take a sip. Before I could give in, I gave her my wrist in good hopes that the source of the blood would take the earnings as well. It didn't of course but as she left compelled to forget, the desire to kill her faded as well. "Or letting it walk right out the door. Why did you do that?"

I look at him, I knew he was mad, I wished I was like them, that I could kill with no remorse but I can't, and never would be able to either. "We need to be more discreet or Mikael will find us." I covered. "If the body count gets to high we can't say its religious sacrifice."

"Fine", Kol grumbled. "Want to get a bite from a few towns over?"

I rolled my eyes but thought about the last time I tried to stop drinking blood, I had torn apart nearly half of the city and gotten father back on our family's trail, "Yeah, that sounds good, I haven't had a drink in ages"

"You shouldn't starve yourself, sister. We're vampires, if we don't drink blood we die," he said", well desiccate" his arm slung over my shoulder. I knew the look he was giving me well; all of my siblings had given it to me at least once over the years probably because I'm the youngest, like I was a naïve child who couldn't possibly grasp the concept of self-preservation. It's like they still see the innocent sixteen year old that I was four hundred years ago, like they would always needed to protect me. Even if I still looked like the person that they knew then, I had changed just as much they had, yet they thought I was the weak one.

In a way I was, they all had things to fall back on, to hide behind, things that were present because they weren't real, my siblings didn't need anyone, not really any ways. Klaus had his curse, his obsession with breaking it, being more powerful than anyone else, Elijah and his unbreakable morals being the 'noble one', the best of the worst. With Rebekah it's more a picture this utopian dream of getting married, having kids, and growing old someday, no matter how unrealistic it might be, I'm a little jealous that she can still be so hopeful. Kol was another story, I didn't understand it until this point, he knew that we were vampires that we were abominations, we kill, we ruin people's lives, he's reliant on the fact he's normal. Or maybe I imagine that's how he thought because I didn't want to see him as a monster. Anyway, I didn't have this, I couldn't depend on concepts or fantasies, and I was more material, which was what made weaker than them.

"It's not that simple, Kol. No matter how hard you look at it, humanity will always be a factor." I couldn't help noticing his quick grimace when I mentioned the dreaded 'humanity'. But that was what I had, the closes I'd ever come to what they have and I haven't had that for a very long time. A race for redemption, and I knew how unlikely it was I would ever find it in time because at some point a line would be crossed and even I would realize I couldn't be redeemed." Don't. Really, the last thing I need is you judging me, too, as if I don't get enough of it from Klaus." I sighed quickening my pace to walk ahead of him.

"I'm not judging, Em. I think that your unwavering belief in humanity is just a little... unrealistic? I just don't want you to get hurt when you find out they can be just as bad as we are." he caught up to me putting his arms on my shoulders the same way he did when were kids and I was distressed or injured or hurt in general, the way he did right before he made it okay and at that moment I entertained the idea that he might be right.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, just a warning I want to made Kol a bit OOC, well no. But I just want to let you all know I am aware that he never shows any ounce of cliché 'big brother' with Rebekah but it is going to be a pretty big part of the story so yeah OOC Kol. Emmeline may seam a bit depressed but due to the point in time she would be writing all this (_All My Children_), she think's she's going to die in a few hours would you be happy and cheerful with all of that happening a few miles away?**

***Sarah**


	2. Betrayal is a fact of human life

2. Even the people you're closest to you will stab you in the back once they find the slightest difference in opinion.

_You know the phrase that people tell you when you don't get along with someone to keep you from killing each other? '_Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer' _my brother practically invented that line. It wasn't that he was closer with his enemies, no it was more that he knew them, befriended them found their weaknesses and at the perfect time when they had no form of offenses he attacked, and all they could do was run._

_I never really understood why he did this though. Those that would be threats to a normal vampire weren't treats to him why build up a reputation when surprising people with superior power would be so much more… flashy? That seemed to be why he did it, for a show, the reaction. But for Klaus power would never be enough, power was nothing if you didn't have fear. Now, I see that if you had enough people standing against you even the invincible can fall for power, and at that point it's a long way down._

* * *

April 17th, 1956

It wasn't healthy being down here, I was one of the few people who won't die and I'm spending the fifties in the basement with the temporary corpses of my siblings. Rebekah had been daggered nearly thirty years ago now, Kol for a hundred and fifty, Finn for nearly… seven centuries now? And I'm still here. Elijah was too but all of us had been in our boxes for a few decades over the centuries. Sometimes, I understood why Nik got mad at us, other times like what happened with Rebekah it seemed unfair to her that some days I almost pull the dagger out. But I don't because then it will be me sitting in the box.

But then again anything that wasn't exactly what Niklaus wanted would get you some form of punishment.

"So… dancing is different now, you would love it, Beks. The Hand Jive, it isn't anything I'd dance but you've always liked thi-"

"You still do this, Emma? Why? They can't hear you." Klaus interrupted walking into the room. He had never been very inquisitive; maybe it was a good sign that he wanted to know something that technically didn't involve him. "It isn't like you can undagger them. They won't know that you did this."

"Well, maybe I should" I mumbled.

"Wait, What? You can't be serious, no undaggering them" Klaus strode over to the coffins, standing over me in a way that should be intimidating. "Don't be stupid, you know my reasoning. Kol was out of control, killing for sport. He put us all in danger!"

"Yes, that happened what? A hundred years ago, and as if you don't do the same thing a million times, we're Originals, we kill and we enjoy it! It isn't fair that you don't get put on pause every time you make some mistake!" I yelled. "And Rebekah? What was her great sin? Not wanting to be a puppet anymore?"

"Well, if you feel so strongly about this why haven't you undaggered them? If you're so sure they're innocent why are they still in the coffins? Even though you don't admit it, you're a lot more like me than you'd like to think." He sneered at me.

You know that moment that everything is right there, right on the line? It happens every once in a while, a decision that could change everything for you, but it's so big that it makes it completely impossible to know the right path. I'd like to tell you that this is one of those moments that I didn't see exactly what I was getting into but I saw it coming from a mile away. "You know why. It's simple to survive in this family as long as you never get on your bad side. You have a God Complex. You want to decide what goes on in our lives? Well, you're fresh out of extra play things, Nik! I quit and yes, that does involve sulking here." I hadn't really heard myself until I said this next part, back then I didn't get what it meant for me, I had gotten so used to being supported that when I started to crash and burn? I didn't realize how far I'd fallen until I hit the ground head first." So, Get out! I don't need you to pull the strings anymore"

It took a while but I finally realize why I needed to be tucked away in a box for a decade or two. We never got to see it before but even without the constant fear of death, the world could be a very scary place.

"Oh, so, you don't need me? That's hilarious. It was a joke, right?" Klaus laughed-I couldn't tell if it was real though. "You'll never even function without someone! You know you're right, I'm a monster but at least I can accept it without someone holding my hand."

And I felt it, like something pinching me right in my heart. I looked down to see the handle of one of the daggers.

As looked up at him, my heart slowed even more than usual, "I guess we'll never know".I could hardly believe that a second ago everything seemed normal. It took centuries of sucking up to not get daggered but as I started to fade I felt an odd sense of gratitude, like this was always going to happen, I had put it off, and now a weight was lifted. In that moment I felt betrayed, but free, like I was falling into a deep sleep and that if I never wanted to wake up I wouldn't have to.

I recognized what I felt then, well it was memorable, the long forgotten feeling of peace.

* * *

**So, how do you guy's like it?**

**I'd really apretioiate reviews**

***Sarah**


End file.
